Chaos may be in abeyance, and the Old World enjoying a time of relative peace, but the devil is making work for the idle hands in the Empire of Man… The largest human nation (in the west, at least) has been experiencing years of political turbulence and civil war – and it’s only getting worse. The Era of the Three Emperors is past, and we are now in the Anarchy. While Electors bicker and jockey for power, darker forces stir to the north. Here’s what our friends in the Warhammer: The Old World team had to tell us.
JTY: Hans von Löwenhacke is the archetype of an Imperial soldier who has risen through the ranks from a modest background. He’s become one of the foremost generals in the Empire now, by doing his job very, very well. But because the Empire is quite unstable at present, he’s worked for many different bosses – so he’s more of a mercenary than such a figure might be during a more stable period. He’s moved around the states and fought for various state armies in the service of several of the Empire’s counts, as alliances shift almost overnight.
Rob: At present, he’s working for the City-state of Nuln, leading our first Army of Infamy. This is a classic formation returning from the early 2000s – it was one of the first themed armies in Warhammer Fantasy Battle, under the guise of the Artillery Train of Nuln. We’ve taken the concept and run with it.
JTY: In many ways, the Empire is not quite as divided as it appears. The army of Osterlund, for instance, will look very similar to that of Reikland and those of the other Electors. We decided to focus our Arcane Journal on one or two regions, rather than writing a larger book covering the various provinces, who all have similar forces.
Nuln is prominent in the background during this period, when it’s an independent free state, rather than the capital of Wissenland as we find it at other times, such as during the era of Karl Franz.
Danny: Nuln takes its independence seriously, and it has the economic and political might to maintain this. It is close to two regional powers in Reikland and Talabecland, but neither has the chops to tell it what to do. The gun shipments would simply stop…
JTY: That said, we didn’t want this army to be a pure gunline. The armies of Nuln aren’t just regiments of gunners with detachments of guns. They’re halberdiers who fight with handgun detachments on their flanks, and certain unique bonuses. Your detachments can include Sergeants, who can take weapons such as Hochland long rifles, and once per game, they can fire in two ranks due to their handgun drills. You also get more cannons.
Danny: The Road Wardens are an entertaining upgrade to the Outriders, a police-like force patrolling the roads around the city, making sure that trade can flow within its sphere of influence. They’re experienced horsemen who spend a lot of time on the road, dispatching brigands, bandits, and orc raiders. You use the same models as the Pistoliers, but there’s an opportunity to kitbash them as rugged veterans.
JTY: By thematically limiting the choice of units available in the Grand Army, you can explore the character of an Army of Infamy and do other things – like make a unique corps of Outriders, who can only be taken in very limited numbers outside of Nuln armies.
Danny: The various Electors and claimants to the throne are quite reluctant to work together, but when Harald Gemunsen, the second new character, calls upon them to act, it would be foolish to say no. He is noble and knightly, and when you see rivals uniting to fight an external threat, it’s usually under the command of someone like him – an apolitical actor who has earned respect across borders. He’s a glimpse into what the Empire will become.
JTY: There are many Knightly Orders.* Most are very small, and might focus on a particular area. Others, such as the Knights Panther, exist everywhere. They are nominally devoted to Sigmar, though they’re fairly secular compared with the likes of the Fiery Heart. Importantly, the order brings nobles together across political and regional divides, and Gemunsen has earned his position by being so trustworthy. He can be used in your Grand Armies, or as a leader for the second Army of Infamy: the Knightly Orders.
Danny: Gemunsen brings certain synergies if you pick for a Knights Panther force, but he can happily lead any order. There’s also a Grand Master profile in the Forces of Fantasy book that will allow you to build your own leader for any of the orders.
JTY: There’s a particular connection between Panthers and White Wolves; the former have a duty to guard the Elector of Middenheim, who is one of the major claimants to the title of Emperor. This results in respect and healthy competition between the two within Osterlund, particularly in the city of Middenheim – they’re not rivals, as they both fundamentally exist for the benefit of the Empire and two of its chief gods.
Rob: There are five Knightly Orders featured in the book. Three we’ve seen before, and two from further in the background. One thing to remember is that the Reiksguard have yet to be founded, and we’ve never really fleshed out the Order of the Fiery Heart. It’s up to you to decide how they’d look, using the Empire Knights box, with some judicious kitbashing. This is the case for many of the Knightly Orders – and we welcome people to invent more, or to choose a lesser order and make it their own. If you want to convert the Knights of Manaan, for instance, and give them tridents, you absolutely can!
JTY: We’ve always talked about the Knights of Morr, but they’ve never had an official miniature, and there are only a scant few images. Even the different chapter houses of a larger order might differ from one another.
The Fiery Heart exemplify the fanaticism of the Reikland at the time. They are a major part of the Cult of Sigmar, which is the big thing there even now. The lesser gods are all present and worshipped enthusiastically by their adherents, but Sigmar is the one who matters most to the people of Reikland, even before Magnus the Pious enshrines him after the Great War.
The list gives you a lot of options – the composition may seem at first restrictive, but once you start to unpack it with the special rules for the various orders, it opens up many other units. The Knights Panther can take a unit of White Wolves, for instance, while the White Wolves can take an extra Free Company – but no priests of Sigmar or Witch Hunters, and so on.
Danny: We really wanted to try something that hadn’t been done for the Empire before, an army representing a Knightly Order, but we wanted you to be able to vary it up. When you combine it with the special rules for Knightly Orders in the back of the book, you will enjoy figuring out what they can do – and take the army in directions you want.
The Old World Almanack will return on the 26th of December for another look at the Empire of Man, including the politics and the wizards’ familiars. The first wave of the Empire of Man range will be available to pre-order from Saturday.
* Four dozen or more mentioned in various obscure official sources, by some counts…
